The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-05-09
WHAT WAS SHE TO HIM?

and a sudden thaW; WhaG must IL De 10
foreigner just landed who sets out to get
impressions of the greatest city of the New
World! One day | was an atom among
10000 shutting, skipping and sliding
along the pavements, leaping the swollen
cutters and landing, ankle deep, In
treacherous holes covered with bits OF ice,
when I overlook a couple whom knew
from their dress to be Britons lately ar
rived A tall man and slender girl were
trudging along with that amiable logged
ness which our cousinry love to oppose
to the worst weather, their every move
ment saying, Behold, we, being English,
care not for rain, snow or hail!
They were, to be sure, well provided
against ordinary inc1emencies Of the air,
but glance at the sopping trousers of the
gentleman and the draggled skirts of the
lady showed that they were not prepared
for six inches Of snow water on Broadway.
Still, they went sturdily forward without a
glance at the cars that passed them and in
different to the Establishments of cabs.
fancied they were not little disappointed
to find cabs over here as in London, and
would have been glad to battle against the
storm unchallenged, since after all the
weather was thoroughly original. By
the way they peered at the street lamps,
which in our town are especially devised
to harass the hurried and weary, it was
plain they were looking for some barbor.
We were near Amity, if l remember
rightly, and just then the gentleman
turned, hesitated, and in marked Eng
lish accent addressed me without raising
his hat inquiring the way to the New
York hotel. He was an elderly man of
civil manners and an appearance one may
call distinguished. Bowling in Difference
to his companion, gave the information,
and had plenty of time to examine face
that many would consider beautiful For
the young lady fixed on me eyes fine in
themselves, which were now wide with
that innocent curiosity which strangers
show toward the first specimens of q ma
ton they have come to see. II OWNED
rightly, she was busy deciding firstly, if
/ were an American; secondly, to what
class belonged; thirdly, my age; fourthly,
whether L was q type or not-and so
on. Yet somewhere under this pitileSs
examination there was sadness not at
all in keeping with the brilliant, almost
blowsed color of her cheeks, whipped red
by the sleet that still filed the air. re-
ceived the impression of face rich in
color, noble in expression but perhaps ex-
aggerated in the upper line of the nose,
where it lifted in way between the eyes
that suggested cruelty, especially in later
life, after the glamor of youth should de-
mart and self be left behind bare of the
EARNS of girlhoOd. But as passed on
L. occurred to me that here was coun-
tenance that would prove q lucky posses
sion to an actress, supposing its owner
had the heart and brain to express through
it the imaginings of poets. Then other
matters filed my mind.
AS / ran into the university, where 1
then had chambers, my friend Raymond
was coming otIt; he called to me to fol-
low to Larru's, ON University place, if I
were not dining out. So in course of time
I Joined him, finding at his table fresh
faced young fellow with crisp, curling
hair, whom he introduced to me as law
student in his Office. Larru's, by the way,
was famous once for red wine, cookery
and italian opera singers-the first genu-
tne, che second delicious and the third n
trifie greasy. One drawback was Nine
Larru, a tun in shape, who thought it
necessary to the success Of her restaurant
to visit the tables in turn ard relate to
each group the same anecdote of an APP
palllng vulgarity and a Stiffness complete.
Then she would return to the caisse and
quarrel with an ancient husband who
might have stepped as a notary from the
French comic stage, his vituperation
sounding shriI against the grumbling
bass of the viragO. When | found the
youth with Raymond to be English it re-
called my questioner on Broadway, and
began to generalize on the strong race
types among the English; for, on examin-
ing his features, could not fail to be
struck with the certainty that some day
those young traits would enlarge and en-
noble themselves into something very like
the distinction of the gray haired gentle
man / had met half an hour before. /
intended to allude to the couple, but talk
ran back and forward so quickly that
whenever it occurred to me the moment
was not apt
They were discussing a suicide which
filled the papers just then, and can hear
yet the joyous note in the young English
mans voice when, bringing his hand
down on the table, he said:
swell, Raymond, if 1 did have to do So /
insane a thing as to take my own life, 1 /
would not choose the best carpet Of my /
best friend and protector in foreign land t
on which to let my life blood outI'
We laughed and Raymond said:
''Pray don't. Ny rooms in the tower
are gloomy enough as it is, but to have
your ghost haunting them would make
them impossible. I would close them up I
and never use them again -
1t turned out that, in order to save the
young man the cost Of lodging, Raymond,
with that open hearted generosity for
which we love him, had put his bachelor
apartments at his disposal until his friend
could make a way in the law. Raymond
was able to do this without excessive self
denial, seeing he had married recently
and occupied coy quarters with charm
ing little wife in the apartment house over
.he way.
'"Then you are my neighbor," said I.
Il have the companion tower, and when
warm weather comes we can smoke to-
yether behind the battlements of our big
'oof and watch in sympathy the comedy
If spring unroll itself among the treetops
If Washington square.
At that our young man fell suddenly
sighed, if am not mistaken,
md mUrmured: when warm weather
/ did not know why the faintest stir of
shudder ran through me as he said this
o himself.
Raymond and began talking of affairs
n which he had no interest, and presently
le announced that he had an early en-
sagement that evening, taking up as he
aid so The Evening Post, and CHANGING at
without much interest. In a moment
felt ne had given start, the hand hold
ing paper between us and his face
cienched convulsively; he rose and walked
nnsteadly to his coat, put it on, laid